Hollande, Merkel go to Moscow to discuss Ukraine without consulting US – report

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande did not consult Washington before deciding to visit Moscow to hold talks on the Ukrainian crisis, a source in the French government told AP.

The two leaders, who are
part of the so-called ‘Normandy Four’ group along with Moscow and
Kiev, decided on a trip on Wednesday night, an unnamed French
government official said. Merkel and Hollande are due to arrive
to the Russian capital on Friday, the next day after visiting
Kiev.

“Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new
initiative,” Hollande told a news conference on
Thursday.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “the
leaders of the three states will discuss what specifically the
countries can do to contribute to speedy end of the civil war in
the southeast of Ukraine, which has escalated in recent days and
resulted in many casualties.”

After the Thursday meeting with the German and French leaders,
Ukrainian President Poroshenko said that the talks indicated that
a ceasefire was possible in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, a senior
French officialtoldlocal weekly Le Nouvel Observateur
on Thursday that the decision to meet tet-a-tet with President
Vladimir Putin was taken on Tuesday after the Russian leader
called on both sides in the Ukrainian conflict to stop military
actions and hostilities.

The French weekly also said that this “historic
initiative” on the part of the two European leaders was
preceded by “secret” talks between Paris, Berlin and
Moscow.

As Hollande and Merkel are set to discuss a peaceful resolution
to the conflict, the US Secretary of State John Kerry is in
Ukraine to answer Kiev’s plea for weapons. Kerry told reporters that US
President Barack Obama will make his decision on the possibility
of sending lethal aid to Ukraine next week.

The White House however
admitted on Thursday that military assistance from the US could
increase bloodshed in the region.

Le Nouvel Observateur
journalist Vincent Jauvert believes that Hollande and Merkel’s
prompt decision to talk with Putin in Moscow comes as an
attempt“to get
ahead of the Americans who are trying to impose their solution to
the problem on Westerners: a transfer of weapons to
Ukraine.”

The journalist elaborates that the two leaders went to Kiev
straight after Kerry as they “distrust the American
administration” and want to “present their diplomatic
solutions just before US Vice President Joe Biden” presents
the US plan of sending lethal weapons to Kiev at the Munich
security conference on Saturday.